Centrifugal separation



Patented Feband Arthur W. Mack, Bayonne, N. J. Application my 10, 1943, Serial No. 486,330

' l "'5 Claims. (Cl. 233-27) This invention relates to an improvedmethod and apparatus for continuously separating liquids from solids by centrifuging an emulsion of 'such materials and, more particularly, the invention pertains to the separation of substantially waxfree oil and oil-free wax from oil-wax emulsions of the general type disclosed and Lclaimed'in a prior patent to A. H. Schutte,-No. 2.168306, issued August 1, 1939. I i a Inthis prior patent, No.'2,168,306;:there are described the difliculties encountered in separating materials such asoil in an oil-wax mixture and a novel manner of solving this problem so that commercial scale wax 'can be. effectively separated from an oil-wax mixture. This is accomplished by emulsifying the oil-waxmixture with a third material that is immiscible with and a non-solvent for the oil-wax mixture. The emulsification of such materials makes it possible to obtain adispersed phase of one of the constituent materials in the immiscible; nonsolvent material which is usually. water. If such an emulsion is chilled or cooleddown below the melting point of thewax, the dispersed material is restored 'to its solid .state and the liquid components of the emulsion can then. be removed by centrifugal force Oil-wax mixtures are particularly adaptabletothistreatment; and in the separation of an emulsionthereof the relatively '30 dense liquid portion of the emulsion is uniformly removed from the relativel light and porous wax cake. The present invention is an improvevention'will l fallmwithin the purview of this I method of separating liquid-solid mixtures and that the apparatus may be arranged onits horizontal axis as distinguishedfrom itsverticalaxis as disclosed. x v

In the drawing;

"Figure 1" is a substantially vertical cross-section of-an apparatuscapable of carryingout the separatory'method illustrating the emulsionand additive non-solvent "feeds and ;.the stratified layers assumed bythe separatedmaterials;

. Figure 2 is" a fragmental broken away plan view of the apparatus showing the inlet feed and liquid discharge openings; and 1 e Figures 3 and 4 ar fragmental views of a modification of the liquid In the preferredembodiment of our invention we have disclosed in the accompanying figures cylindrical casing .I provided with a top. 3 hav of the drawing 'adiagrammatic representation of a centrifugal settling apparatuszhaving' an outer ing an opening 5 therein: The-lower endfof-the casing l. extends inwardly. at .I to provide arbottom liquid collection trough'defin'ed by the casing wall land the vertical annular flange 9.

ment over this basic concept disclosed in the aforesaid prior patent whereby an accelerated settling due to centrifugal force is created.

An object of this invention is the formation of separate layers of dry wax cake, submerged wax fcake, oil and water within a. suitable centrifugal apparatus and the removal. of the .liquidfconstituents together with the discharge or the wax cake from the apparatus, the wax cake" being I lighter than the heaviest liquid component.

A'further object of the invention is the control of such va separation process whereby the discharge of oil andy'v'ater from the apparatus may be adjusted with afgreat'degree of accuracy. This'control is accomplished by regulating the feed rate'of emulsion to the machine and by the addition of a desired amount of immiscible nonsolvent liquid to theemulsion feedline.

In'the accompanying drawing we have dis closed one'form of apparatus for carrying out this novel method-of operation but it will be understood that any equivalent apparatus capable of carrying out the objects of the in- -A drain-oif-fitting ll isconnected to the .trough or channel .I.

A solid-wall; cylindrical, rotating bowl or basket I3, having a closed lower end I5, is suspended on and receivesirotation from a "verticalshaft l1 and, through the medium of this shaft, the. solid-wall separatory bowl is rotated ,atany desired speed, 5 The'upperopen --end of the bowl is provided with an inwardly extending oblique flange. or come portion 19 having a plurality of 'circumferentially arranged, spaced openingsororifices. 2| therein'whereby the liquid constituents separated from-the emulsion are discharged. In the lower end *of the bowl is an annular platform or bafiie23 that is held inraised position above the bottom wall 15 of the basket lit by means of screw spacers :25.

- Thislowerplatform .or distributing baffle 23. is

of such a size that the outer periphery is'slightly spaced from the inner wall of the bowl l3 where- 1 by a passage 21fis created between the .bailie and the wall of the'centrifuge basket.

Emulsifled material to be separated, such as an oil-wax emulsion, is fed into the .apparatus through a vertical feed pipe29 'which may have a lower curved discharge part 3|. extending under the inner and lower edge. of the feed-distributing "'baflle 23; The "feed pipe 29 is connected to a source of emulsion such as an emulsifying apparatus disclosed in the prior Patent No. 2,168,306,

discharge passagegof the centrifuge. g

3| beneath the baille 23. pipe 29 is connected to a source of suitable, heavy; non-solvent liquid such as water or previously separated filtrate through supplyline 33.

- whereby-a cooled or chilled emulsion of wax and oil is discharged from the lower end of the pipe In addition, the feed In operation, the bowl [3 is rotated and emulsion is discharged under the distributing baflle 23. Due to centrifugal force the'material flows radially outwardly and,.thence, upwardly between theouter edge of the baflle and. the wall of the basket'ithrough throat 21. Under accelerated settling due to the centrifugal force, the material in the upper or main portion of the basket 13;

separates or stratifies into distinct layers of liquid into the emulsion feed line practical difiiculties of control may arise without this feature, such as the proper spacing and size of the discharge oriflces. However, in an apparatus provided with the additional non-solvent liquid feed line 33 the percentage of the capacity of the perforations 2| which is taken up by the non-solvent liquid is easily and precisely controlled and this, in turn, gives the operator control of the remaining capacity of these exit perforations for the oil I component of thefiltrate, The feed line 33 is water, oil, soggy or submerged cake, and dry;

porous cake indicated in the drawing by the.

letters W, O, S andC, respectively.1 .'I'he1.

' light cake. C and its submerged portion S fioati on the oil layer 0 by buoyancy..whilethe-heavierf water layer W lies adjacent the inner wall of the bowl I 3.

The liquid layers of water. andv oil are discharged from the-upper part of the bowl through I i the plurality of spaced openings formed in the j j cone shaped lip I Set the basket.- The oil capacity r of these perforations or orifices may be adjusted to operating conditions so that the discharge rates isa layerof clear .oil between theflwater layer provided with a valve 33a,for accurate control of I delivery of the additional non-solventliquid.

After the machine has been in operation and asufiicient thickness of wax cake C has been built up the emulsion feed can be continued so thatthe-inner portion of the cake Will'build up beyond the edge of the annular cone lip l9 and, due to the resultant forces created, discharge con.- tinuously and at an essentially constant rate over .the lipinto the annular trough 35 provided in the It is prefupper portion of the outer casing I. erableto heat this trough by means of acoil 31 whereby the separatedwax cake may be readily discharged through'fitting 39.

However, the waxcake may be discharged by continuing. the normal feed of the emulsion and increasing. the amount of non-solvent liquid in-- 1 troduced into the-feed This results in a comarated filtrate into the feed line 29 through the 1 iv line 33. Thus, .the number and-size of the dis- 3 charge openings 2| give the operator a gross-or Y 1 coarse adjustment of the discharge-rate of oil 1 and water, and the amountl'cf additional water i r or other. non-solvent liquid added to the emulsion 1 1 'fedthroughline'33 gives thefoperator a ,fine or vernier' adjustment of thisdischarge rate;

Initially, the operator starts "up the apparatus paratively thick annular water layer W being built up adjacent the inner wall of the casing I3-of such amount as to be beyond the discharge capacity of the openings 2|: whereby the cake C is forced inwardly beyond the inner edge of the cone l9 and is. discharged at an intermittently varying rate' over the lipand into the trough "As shown by the arrow, the separated water and 'clearoil layers W and Oleave the bowl through the discharge openings 2| positioned in the cone l9 and are directedagainst the underside of annular baffle, and collected in the trough I. The filtrate passes through fitting II to a suitable settling tank or the like.

- The action of these discharge holes 2| is radically'difierent' from the prior art wherein side openings in the vertical bowl have been sugusing a slightly greater total discharge opening i thereafter increasesthefeed rate to themachine residence time. Following this, sufiicientnon- 1 solvent is added through connection 33to secure a clear filtrateliquid discharge-containing sub- 1 stantially no solid particles. As the non-solvent 1 liquid is added at "an increasing rate, more of the q larea of the exit opening is occupied by nonpermit its egress through 'the remainingexit 1 than is required. for the;desired operation and o until a furtherincrease would give an insufilciently drained cake due to lowering of the cake gested. It should be understood that these upper con'e openings do not act as a filter medium but 7 rather as exits for clarified filtrate as described above. The operation-of the apparatus is so controlled that the submerged and dry cake is 'kept away from the zone of'these topdischarge opensolventand the oil therefore builds up ahead to j opening area. This actioir'forcesthe submerged cake layers in toward the axis of the separator 'j bowl until a clear oil layeris established. A

Q further increase in non-solvent flow merely del creases the thickness ofthe drycake C,.and the operator may thus adjust the dry cake thickness by adjusting the flow of theliquid through line 1 33. It should be understood that the same effect and control of the apparatus mayibe obtained i by introducing filtrate diet 33 instead of a non- 5 solvent liquid although theme or non solvent 1 is usually preferred. where the :separated isemulsified. a While the apparatus herein describedis capable of operation without the addition of; a non-solvent Excellent results'have been obtained inthe separation of wax-oil emulsions on such an improved centrifugal separator'havinga 10-inch basket I3 provided witheighti Ik-ihchopenings 2| in the annular lip [9. One particular slack wax charge having a melting point of 110 F. was

emulsified, andthe emulsion'wasseparatedjon the above machine to produce a wax "cake having a meltlng 'point of 116.5? Rand a foots oil filtrate having a melting point of 85'. F. [The yield of cakewas 80%, and'the yield of filtrate was 20%.

I 'The oil content of the slack wax was 20%, ofthe wax cake 8.9%, and of the filtrate 515.2%. The

material ;to be 1 rate' of feed was about? "gallons perh'our, and the basket was rotated at 1,900 R. P. M. This operation met the requirements of reducing the oil content of the wax charge by one-halfand of producing a foots oil having a melting point 0185 F. These requirements were met in one pass of the wax through our improved centrifuge whereas the prior art centrifuges required two or more passes to produce'the same results.

As already pointed out, the addition of non- I solvent liquid through line 33'for control of the separationis'the most desirable manner of operation. Such liquid preferably has the same temperature as the incoming charge. This control,

however, may also be accomplished through the medium of washing the cake with a suitable wash liquid such as the non-solvent liquid. In such event, the wash liquid is introduced through pipe the cake are insured. Theinner periphery of thisbafile preferably extends inwardly sufllclently beyond the inner edge of lip I! to provide ample support for the separated. annular columns of .liquid and solid. a V

( Our improved construction enables us to ob- .tain continuousseparation and avoids all the operating disadvantages of the ordinary solid .bowl centrifuge and of a centrifugal filter.

also permits us to subcool the charge emulsion to a greaterextent so that we canmake separations 41 provided with the spray nozzle 48, which directs such wash liquid against the'cake C intermediate the ends of the centrifuge.

more liquid is then required to produce the desired degree of cooling of the resulting emulsion. Either of these alternative'methods of control may be used alone, but they are preferably used in conjunction with the introduction of'non-s lr vent liquid through line 33. v j

The number of discharge openings and the size illustrate our invention.

heretofore believed impossible in one pass.

It is to be understood that the use of but improved machine is not limited to the separation of. wax-oil emulsions, which were used only to Our improved centrifuge isapplicable to the separation of any liquidsolid mixture having the requisite characteris tics of light solid andheavy liquid.

Although we have described several forms of embodiment of our invention, other modifications thereof will be apparent tothose skilled in the art; and only the limitation of the claims appended hereinafter should be applied.

The method features of our invention, disclosed butnot claimed in this application, are

claimed in ourlcopen'ding divisional application Serial No. 500,600, filed August 31,1943.

thereof depend to some extent on the separationv being made. They should be neither too small so as to plug up or too large so as to discharge wax along withthe oil and non-solvent liquid. Similarly, the number of openings should be just What we claim is: v 1 An apparatus for continuously separating the heavier liquid constituents from the lighter solid constituents of an oil-wax-water-emulsion,

I comprising a rotatable imperforate bowl having suflicient to insure continuous discharge of the filtrate and will vary to some extent with the speed of rotation of the basket. These openings should be spaced suiiiciently from the wall of basket l3 and from the inner edge of lip I! so that a water layer can be built up along the basket wall so that an effective amount of dry cake can be produced, respectively, Although we have shown inwardly extending annular lip 19 containing openings 2| as cone-shaped, it may also be flat (in a plane transverse to the axis of rotation) if so desired.

In the modified structure illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings, we have shown an additional control for the liquid discharge openings feed under the separated water column W through the throat 21 in such a manner that the material moves inwardly as it separates and displaces the submerged cake layers causing a portion of the solid content thereof to enter the dry c'ake zone and prevents the formation of heavy soggy zones in the submerged cake layer.

In this manner we are able to operate continuously without the necessity of frequently shutting down to remove collapsed, oil-soaked cake from the centrifuge. As shown in the drawing, the outer periphery'of baflle 23 preferably extends into the water layer and radially beyond the discharge openings 2| so that the incoming emulsion feed is discharged between the separated cake C and S and the wall of bowl 13 whereby continuous inward displacement and discharge of an open top and a closed bottom, an annular conical lip extending into said open end,a horizontal baflle of slightly smaller diameter than the diameter of the bowl alllxed in spaced relation above the bottom thereof, an emulsion feed pipe to deposit emulsion beneath the plane offlthe width for the stratified liquid constituents, the

lighter solid floating on said liquid strata and discharging over the inner edge of said conical lip and additional means to add a heavy liquid to the emulsion feedto control the liquid discharge and to force the lighter solid floating on the liquid strata radially inwardly beyond the inner edge of the conical .lip by the continuous addition of emulsion feed and to maintain the level of the submerged solid at a radius shorter than the radius of the inner edge of the liquid discharge perforations in the upper lip of the bowl.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the outer periphery of said baflle extends radially outwardly beyond the liquid discharge p rforations and the inner periphery thereof extends radially inwardly beyond the inner periphery of the upper lip.

3. A continuous centrifugal apparatus for separating heavy liquid from light solid, comprising a rotatable bowl having an open end, the opposite end of said bowl being closed, an inwardly extending annular conical lip at said openend.

an annular distributing ,baflle spaced from the closed end of said bowl, said ballle forming a tween said battle and said closed end, a plurality of openings in said annular 11p intermediate its width for discharge of the liquid constituents separated from said mixture, and means to introduce an additional quantity or heavy liquid into the bowl'anddischarge said additional liquid h against the separated solid intermediate the ends of thebowl to wash the separated solid and also regulate the rate of discharge of the heavierj'liquid'from the ligher solid through the openings in the lip.

4. A centrifugal apparatus for separating a mixture containing a lighter solid component and a heavier liquid component, comprising a separating rotorhaving an imperiorate circumferential wall and an imperforate wall at one end thereof preventing discharge at said end, the rotor being open at its opposite end, an annular lip onthe rotor at the open end thereof and lextending from said circumferential wall inwardly. toward the'axis of the rotor, said lip having.

intermediate its radial width, discharge aper tures located around the rotor axis and equidis tantfrom said axis; chargedeliveringfan'd directing means constructed and arranged to conduct the mixture continuously into the rotor and therein direct the mixture initially to a region adjacent the circumferential wall and adjacent said end wall, for siratiflcation of the mixture the inner edge of said lip and discharge of the separated liquid component through said apertures, means for introducing simultaneously additional heavy liquid, independent of the mixture, into the rotating rotor for radial positioning of said outerlayer and said intermediate layer, and valve means connected to said means for introducing simultaneously the additional liquid and independent of said charge-delivering means, said valve means being operable to controlthe introduction of said additional liquid for so positioningv said layers as to dispose said intermediate into concentric layers including an outer layer a ofthe liquid component separated from the solid component, an inner layer of the solid component separated from the liquid component and "an intermediate layer of liquid component with solid component submerged therein, and for discharge or the suparatedsolid component past layer in. a radial position entirely between the radial position of said lip apertures and the inner edge of the lip and thereby prevent discharge of material'from the intermediate layer.

5. A centrifugal apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the said charge delivering and directing means comprises an, annular distributing baflle borne by the rotor concentric therewith I and in opposed; inwardly spaced relation to the said end wall of the rotor, anda delivery conduit arranged to.de1iver the mixture into the space between said baffle and aid end wall, the inner edge of the 'bafile being nearer the axis of the rotor than the inner edge of said lip and the outer edgev of the baifie being farther from the axis than the saldapel'tures in the lip and affording clearance ior flow of the mixture from said space to the separating space within the rotor, at the opposite side of the baiiie. 4

-AUGUS'I' HENRY SCHUTTE.

ARTHUR W. MACK. 1 

